Thursday 24 September 2020

Cosmic Oscillation

In Poul Anderson's "Flight to Forever" (1950) and "To Outlive Eternity" (1967), the latter expanded as Tau Zero (1970), the universe oscillates.

In Rival Theories Of Cosmology (1960), cosmic oscillation was a possibility. I thought that it would contradict the Second Law of Thermodynamics but apparently not necessarily. Now, however, it is thought that cosmic expansion is accelerating. More recent cosmology is incorporated in Anderson's Starfarers. Much has been learned since 1960. The steady state theory, also propounded in Rival Theories..., was very quickly disproved. There is progress, whether or not there is any final destination.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I've read a fair number of popular science books, but I'm by no means as familiar with current thinking about cosmology as I should be. I keep getting bogged when I try to read Hawking's A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME, usually by page 46. Frank Tipler's THE PHYSICS OF CHRISTIANITY was sometimes hard going, but I managed to read the entire book.

Ad astra! Sean